Economy

Brazil household debt hits record level in March

Chief among creditors in the country is the credit card: 87% of cases

Vitor Abdala

Published on 31/03/2022 - 14:20

Rio de Janeiro

Brazilian families facing debt, overdue or not, reached 77.5 percent in March this year, the highest since the beginning of the Consumer Indebtedness and Default Survey (PEIC), in 2010, as per the country’s confederation of trade of goods, services and tourism CNC.

In February, the percentage stood at 76.6 percent. In March last year, the rate was reported at 67.3 percent.

Defaulters, i.e. families with bills or debts in arrears, reached 27.8 percent, the second highest percentage in the survey, surpassed only by the one recorded in the first month of the survey, January 2010 (29.1%). In February, the rate was 27 percent, and 24.4 percent in March 2021.

Meanwhile, families that will not be able to pay their debts and overdue bills total 10.8%, above the percentages of February this year and March last year (both 10.5%).

Credit cards come up as the reason for indebtedness in 87 percent of the cases in Brazil, followed by installment plans with payment booklets (18.7%), car loans (11.2%), personal credit (9.4%), and mortgage (8.6%).